Both fighters met in the center of the ring and traded shots in every round as long as it lasted. Antillon was dropped early in round three and fought back valiantly until he was floored again and referee David Mendoza waved it off when Antillon staggered into the ropes on his own moments later. The time of the stoppage was 2:49 of round three.

Lightweight brawler Urbano Antillon brought the fury from the opening bell against Brandon Rios, throwing hard left hooks and righthands, but Rios answered right back with bombs of his own. Both fighters were landing at an alarming rate in the first stanza, but it was Rios who started to land vicious uppercuts through Antillon’s guard, and that was the beginning of the end for Urbano Antillon.

Both fighters landed hard jabs to start Round 2, but it wasn’t long before they switched back to exchanging violent powershots. Rios continued to find the mark with his uppercut and seemed to be getting the better of most of the exchanges, although Antillon never stopped coming forward.

Rios dropped Antillon hard at the beginning of Round 3 and Antillon showed tremendous heart in rising to his feet. Rios pounded away at him against the ropes when the fight resumed and Antillon tried his best to fight back, but he got dropped by a huge righthand that he never saw coming late in the round and wound up flat on his face. Once again Antillon beat the count, but was on unsteady legs as the fight resumed, and the referee waved off the bout after Antillon reacted badly to series of follow up punches by Rios.

Rios remained unbeaten and improved to 28-0-0 (20 KOs) while Antillon falls to 28-3-0 (20 KOs).

After the bout Rios said that he was surprised that it ended so early, but he wasn’t surprised that he scored a knockout. He had an ice pack on his right hand, which he injured during the short contest, and said that he is willing to take on the best at 135 and 140.

(Photo: Big Joe Miranda / bigjoespics.com)

Rios leaves us in awe again

CARSON, Calif. – Bam. Bam.

With two big punches in the third round, Brandon Rios once again lived up to his apt nickname and enhanced his reputation as one of the most-exciting young fighters in the world Saturday night at Home Depot Center.

The first punch, a right cross, put always-game Urbano Antillon down mid-way through the round. The second, another right, finished the job with only 11 seconds on the clock.

It was Rios’ second consecutive spectacular knockout, the previous one being a 10th-round TKO that gave him the WBA 135-pound belt and raised awareness of his unusual ability.

CARSON, Calif. -- Brandon Rios stopped Urbano Antillon with 11 seconds left in the third round of an action-packed fight Saturday night, retaining his WBA lightweight title in dramatic fashion.

After two rounds of toe-to-toe slugging, Rios (28-0-1, 20 KOs) knocked down Antillon twice in the third. Rios landed a crushing left hook for the first knockdown, and an overhand right moments later sent Antillon face-first into the canvas.

Last night's Showtime double-header lived up to the hype, with an action-packed, three-round war of a main event between Brandon Rios and Urbano Antillon, and a surprisingly one-sided upset of Kermit Cintron by Carlos Molina in the co-feature.

Brandon Rios stops Urbano Antillon in third round, keeps WBA world lightweight title

CARSON - Since Julio Cesar Chavez and Marco Antonio Barrera had more than their share of vicious fights during their storied careers, perhaps it was only fitting they worked as color commentators for Saturday night's lightweight world title fight between champion Brandon Rios and Urbano Antillon at Home Depot Center.

It was expected to be a ring war, and it was - if only for the better part of three rounds. After two toe-to-toe rounds that could have been split at one apiece, Rios smashed Antillon to the canvas twice in the third on his way to a third-round technical knockout in front of 3,776.

Upset artist Carlos Molina, 28 years-old from Mexico, has done it again showing many progress in combination punching and defensive skill. Molina took the fight to former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron, 31 years-old from Puerto Rico, and came away with a ten round unanimous decision in a junior middleweight scrap. Molina landed most the clean shots in a breakout performance, while Cintron never got untracked. Scores were 98-92 on all cards.

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